Blowing Through Heaters Like, uh, Microwaves?
As we complete some fairly major renovation of our Colorado mountain home, my husband and I are heating a couple of small areas with space heaters. The good news is space heaters, thanks to many foreign countries, have gotten a lot cheaper. The bad news is they hardly last a season. Previous heaters have remained functioning members of our family for about 20 years.
Are heaters intended to be disposable now? They're cheap. If you use them a lot, they break, but they're cheap, so you buy another one. This logic is enough to turn me into a rabid environmentalist! Is there a local chapter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Plastics I can join? Aren't we supposed to be worried about our garbage? Heaters can occupy a lot of land fill space. . .almost as much as microwaves.
In 1981, I saved up to purchase a microwave, which was on sale for $300. Years later, the electronic panel went out so I took it in for repair. The estimate was $150. A new unit was $100. Okay, this bothered me a little, but my old microwave was out-of-date and I could make good use of the new product's features. I bought the new one and since have had to buy at least three more.
Recently, I saw a microwave on sale for $27.99 at a major discount chain and realized that microwaves had gone the way of ink pens and cigarette lighters before them. They're "throw away" items, also known as disposables.
In the 70's, brightly colored plastic cigarette lighters were cool and cheap. After watching my father fumble for years, drizzling lighter fluid on the cotton guts of his old stainless steel lighter, this seemed like a great concept to me and it even cost less. Eventually, even Daddy gave in to the idea.
In those days, pen manufacturers also introduced disposable ink pens. A dozen of Bic's new pens were the same price as only a few refillable pens. How could we have known we were on the beginning of a downward spiral?
What's next? I haven't a clue and although there's probably no stopping this wasteful practice in the near term, we need to make sure we keep this philosophy in the realm of things. Contrary to what some would have you believe, people are not and will never be disposable.
Are heaters intended to be disposable now? They're cheap. If you use them a lot, they break, but they're cheap, so you buy another one. This logic is enough to turn me into a rabid environmentalist! Is there a local chapter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Plastics I can join? Aren't we supposed to be worried about our garbage? Heaters can occupy a lot of land fill space. . .almost as much as microwaves.
In 1981, I saved up to purchase a microwave, which was on sale for $300. Years later, the electronic panel went out so I took it in for repair. The estimate was $150. A new unit was $100. Okay, this bothered me a little, but my old microwave was out-of-date and I could make good use of the new product's features. I bought the new one and since have had to buy at least three more.
Recently, I saw a microwave on sale for $27.99 at a major discount chain and realized that microwaves had gone the way of ink pens and cigarette lighters before them. They're "throw away" items, also known as disposables.
In the 70's, brightly colored plastic cigarette lighters were cool and cheap. After watching my father fumble for years, drizzling lighter fluid on the cotton guts of his old stainless steel lighter, this seemed like a great concept to me and it even cost less. Eventually, even Daddy gave in to the idea.
In those days, pen manufacturers also introduced disposable ink pens. A dozen of Bic's new pens were the same price as only a few refillable pens. How could we have known we were on the beginning of a downward spiral?
What's next? I haven't a clue and although there's probably no stopping this wasteful practice in the near term, we need to make sure we keep this philosophy in the realm of things. Contrary to what some would have you believe, people are not and will never be disposable.
posted by Cynthia Duck at
10:31 AM
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